Anthony Obinnia Njokuani is an Nigerian American professional mixed martial artist and kickboxer currently competing in ONE Championship. A professional competitor since 2001, Njokuani has also formerly competed for the UFC and the WEC.
Njokuani began his professional career in 1999, initially fighting as a kickboxer. He enjoyed some success in the sport by compiling a 24–0 record and winning the Kansas state Muay Thai title. He turned his hand to mixed martial arts in 2003 and became champion of the Texas-based Art of War promotion in 2007 before making a brief return to kickboxing to compete for the Oklahoma Destroyers in the -74.3 kg/164 lb division in the team-based World Combat League promotion during the 2007-08 season. Having compiled a 9–1 MMA record by 2008, Njokuani signed with World Extreme Cagefighting.
In October 2010, World Extreme Cagefighting merged with the Ultimate Fighting Championship. As part of the merger, all WEC fighters were transferred to the UFC. In his UFC debut, Njokuani faced touted prospect Edson Barboza on March 19, 2011 at UFC 128. He lost the fight via unanimous decision, but the bout won the Fight of the Night bonus. Njokuani fought Andre Winner on July 2, 2011 at UFC 132, winning via unanimous decision. UFC commentator, Joe Rogan, called it Njokuani's best performance of his career. With this performance, Njokuani became the sixth fighter to land over 100 significant strikes in a single bout. Njokuani was expected to face Paul Taylor on November 5, 2011 at UFC 138. However, just days before the event, Taylor pulled out of the bout citing an injury. With no time to find a suitable replacement the bout was scrapped. Njokuani was expected to face Ramsey Nijem on December 30, 2011 at UFC 141. However, Nijem was forced out the bout with an injury and replaced by Danny Castillo. He lost the fight via split decision. Njokuani defeated John Makdessi on April 21, 2012 at UFC 145 via unanimous decision. Njokuani was expected to face Paul Taylor on July 11, 2012 at. However, Taylor was forced out of the bout with yet another injury and replaced by Rafael dos Anjos. Njokuani lost the fight via unanimous decision, and was sidelined for six months as he recovered from surgery to repair a broken right hand suffered in the bout. Njokuani faced debuting Strikeforce fighter Roger Bowling on April 20, 2013 at UFC on Fox 7. He won the fight via KO in the second round. A bout with Paul Taylor was scheduled for the third time and was expected to take place on October 26, 2013 at UFC Fight Night 30. However, Taylor was forced to pull out of the bout once again with another injury and later retired. Taylor was replaced this time by Al Iaquinta. On September 24, Njokuani also pulled out of the event with an injury. and was replaced by Piotr Hallmann. After over a year away from the cage, Njokuani returned to face Vinc Pichel on May 24, 2014 at UFC 173. He lost the fight via unanimous decision. Njokuani faced Daron Cruickshank on October 4, 2014 at. He lost the fight by unanimous decision, and was subsequently released from the promotion.
Just two days after his UFC release was announced, it was announced that Njokuani had signed a multi-fight deal with Legacy FC. He made his debut against David Burrow at Legacy FC 38 on February 13, 2015. Despite dominating the first two rounds via his stand up, Njokuani lost the fight via submission in the third round.
Lion Fight
On February 3, 2017 Njokuani returned to Muay Thai action at Lion Fight 34 at the Tropicana in Las Vegas. He defeated Australia's Chris Harrington by third round KO to keep his undefeated record.
